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An administrative law judge has upheld the firing of a former police officer who lost his job after other police officers told supervisors he used inappropriate force on a handcuffed prisoner in Far North Dallas.

Michael Mosher was fired by Police Chief David Brown in June 2011.

“Chief David Brown acted reasonably and was justified in terminating the employment of Officer Mosher,” administrative law judge Willie Crowder concluded in her written ruling. “Therefore, I am SUSTAINING the termination of officer Michael Mosher as imposed by Chief Brown.”

According to police records, another officer had handcuffed Aaron Curtis, 21, gave him a ticket for possessing a marijuana pipe, then removed the handcuffs during the January 2011 incident. Mosher then approached.

Police Officer Ryan Vertz described Mosher as taking an immediately negative attitude, calling Curtis a derogatory name for not standing up for his wife when she got into an argument with another person. Two other officers, Tashonda Wesley and Neil Becker, told investigators that Mosher called Curtis a coward.

“The entire time Mr. Curtis was being respectful,” Vertz wrote, adding that Mosherthen told Curtis he was going to jail for public intoxication. Before Curtis could comply, he said, Mosher jumped on Curtis’ back and spun him to the ground, scraping his forehead.

Once the officers cuffed Curtis and got him off the ground, “Officer Mosher then proceeded to punch Mr. Curtis, while handcuffed and compliant, approximately three or four times in his right rib cage,” Vertz wrote.

Police said Curtis suffered minor injuries.

Vertz, Becker and Wesley all described another officer as trying to intervene to stop what was occurring, but said that Mosher told him to get away from him.

Mosher told investigators he did not use inappropriate force, but admitted to calling Curtis derogatory names.

He had repeatedly been the subject of use-of-force complaints since joining the department in 2004. Several years ago, he received a five-day suspension after internal investigators found he used inappropriate force when he hit a young person in the head with a flashlight.